Back to College Spending 2013: The Numbers from the National Retail Foundation Survey

The National Retail Foundation has agained tracked what families have planned for Back to College Spending for 2013. The total projected amount? $45.8 billion dollars.

If you follow these numbers from year to year, that number is 8.55% lower than last year’s overall retail number of $53.5 billion (an average budget of $907.22). The National Retail Foundation suggests that this decline shows caution about budgets, with 76.5% of college shoppers saying “the economy will impact their spending in some way.” College shoppers plan to save money by buying generic or store brand products (32%), shopping sales more often (37.5%), and, for many, by living at home (a projected 47.7% in 2013 vs 42.9% in 2012).

How does the overall “Back to College” budget break down? The projected $836.83 college shopper budget will be divided among the following categories:

The National Retail Foundation also released this “Back to College” infographic, detailing what they found to be the three most interesting findings of their 2013 survey. Take a look at these findings below: